BP p.l.c. provides fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, lubricants to engines, and petrochemicals products. The stock currently has a dividend yield of 4.8%. BP has a PE ratio of 13.0. Currently there are 4 analysts that rate BP a buy, 1 analyst rates it a sell, and 3 rate it a hold.

The average volume for BP has been 5.1 million shares per day over the past 30 days. BP has a market cap of $147.5 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and energy industry. Shares are down 2.8% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday.

TheStreet Quant Ratings rates BP as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, attractive valuation levels, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 5.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 5.0%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share.

The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.39, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Although the company had a strong debt-to-equity ratio, its quick ratio of 0.96 is somewhat weak and could be cause for future problems.

The return on equity has improved slightly when compared to the same quarter one year prior. This can be construed as a modest strength in the organization. Compared to other companies in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry and the overall market on the basis of return on equity, BP PLC has underperformed in comparison with the industry average, but has exceeded that of the S&P 500.

Compared to where it was 12 months ago, the stock is up, but it has so far lagged the appreciation in the S&P 500. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.

The atmosphere at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston was ecstatic Thursday as oil prices are finally in a stable realm in which producers can increase profitability and begin to think about how to return cash to shareholders.